


Flaws

by lunabelle



Category: Parks and Recreation
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-28
Updated: 2018-05-28
Packaged: 2019-05-14 22:26:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,784
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14778434
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lunabelle/pseuds/lunabelle
Summary: Andy learned long ago not to question her about this. If she said she was fine, she meant it. If she wasn’t, then she would tell him. They’d been together long enough now that he knew the difference. He knew she would always be honest with him.





	Flaws

**Author's Note:**

  * For [meet_me_onthe_equinox](https://archiveofourown.org/users/meet_me_onthe_equinox/gifts).



There were some days where Andy Dwyer just couldn’t understand what his wife was thinking, which always made him just a little bit sad. He prided himself on knowing everything about her, being in tune to her emotions and thoughts and giving her exactly what she needed, emotionally and physically. It was part of being a husband, part of _“taking care of your girl”_ as Ron once told him. April herself was as important to him as food, water and air—maybe even more so—and Andy would never let her down.

So those days when April was just a little bit lazier than normal, those mornings where she would cuddle him close and bury her face in his chest, seemingly unable to get out of bed even when the alarm rang for the fifth, sixth and seventh time, Andy just went along with it. He held her a little closer, pressed a kiss to her forehead, and texted Leslie that they wouldn’t be coming to work that day.

“You okay?” Andy would whisper into her hair, gently stroking the back of her neck with featherlight touches.

“Yeah,” April replied, Andy’s shirt clenched in her grip, her fingers unmoving anytime soon.

Andy learned long ago not to question her about this. If she said she was fine, she meant it. If she wasn’t, then she would tell him. They’d been together long enough now that he knew the difference. He knew she would always be honest with him.

 

“You seem down in the dumps today, honey,” Andy said over breakfast one morning. Breakfast really meaning the sugary sweet cereal April always brought home from _Food N’ Stuff,_ but who cared? Andy spooned bite after bite into his mouth while April sat in front of her untouched cup of coffee, staring at seemingly nothing. She huddled in her (Andy’s, really) large t-shirt and didn’t say much.

“Hmm?” she looked at him.

“I said that you seem down today,” Andy repeated, putting down his bowl. He looked at her, reached across the table to grasp her hand that was just resting there. “Is everything okay?”

April shrugged.

“Babe?”

“It’s nothing,” she mumbled, finally sipping the hot, black liquid.

Andy gave her hand a squeeze. His eyes met hers and he held that gaze. Hers was soft and almost defeated-looking.

“April—“

“It’s just one of those days, Andy,” April said softly.

“Oh,” Andy said, nodding immediately. He knew what _those days_ meant. “You uh, you wanna talk about it?”

“No.”

“You want to stay home from work?”

“Can’t,” April sighed. “I’ve got a huge thing with Leslie today. We’re meeting those guys from Yellowstone National Park, and you’ve got to film in a few hours.”

“Yeah, that’s right,” Andy said softly. “Well, you know the drill, right?”

April nodded.

They had a plan worked out. Whenever April was feeling overwhelmed, or upset, or just plain depressed or anxious about work or home or anything at all, she would stop what she was doing and call him. It didn’t matter what Andy was in the middle of, he was going to stop and answer the phone no matter what. He’d be there for her if she needed him and that was non-negotiable.

“Guess I better get dressed, then,” Andy said, finally releasing April’s hand.

“Yeah,” April said. She stood and walked around the little table to give him a quick kiss. Instead, Andy pulled her in for a tight hug and pressed his lips to hers.

“I love you,” he said, resting his forehead against hers.

“Yeah, I know,” April smiled. “I love you too.”

 

The episode Andy filmed that day had been awesome. His old bandmates made an appearance, featuring Burly as the reoccurring character _Puppy-Hating Dan,_ who was always a huge hit, and Andy took his afternoon lunch break with a smile on his face and feeling exhausted but accomplished.

“Andy,” one of the studio interns found him in the lunch room and tapped him on the shoulder. “Your wife is here.”

“She is?” Andy stood up immediately and ran back out to the studio. Sure enough, April was standing there were her arms crossed, waiting. He ran to her immediately.

When she saw him, April smiled wide and met his outstretched arms. “Hey,” she whispered, kissing him.

“Hey!” Andy grinned wide. “Babe, what an awesome surprise! What’re you doing here? How did the meeting go?”

April shrugged. “I didn’t go,” she said, averting her eyes.

“You…didn’t?” Andy was confused. “Why not?”

April took a gulping breath, and for a moment she looked like she was going to cry. Andy looked around quickly before leading her to a little side hallway off set. Once there, he turned her so she was facing him and held her shoulders.

“Hey,” he whispered. “What’s wrong? Don’t tell me it’s nothing this time.”

There were tears in her eyes now as she tried to look everywhere but at him, rolling her lips like she so often did. “Andy, how many times can I make you do this?”

Andy looked at her. “You’re not _making_ me do anything,” he said, seriously. “I’ll do anything for you, you know that—“

“I know,” April said quickly.

“So—?”

“So I can’t expect you to drop everything every time I feel the slightest bit unsure about stupid stuff,” she shrugged.

“What stuff?”

“Andy—“

“No, April, I need to know,” Andy said firmly. If it had something to do with him, or them, or their relationship, he needed to know. He knew she was happy. He knew that. But if there was ever a chance he was doing something wrong, or something to make her _unhappy,_ he needed to know. He needed to _fix_ it. “Is it…me?”

“What?” April looked at him with large eyes. “No! Andy, of course it’s not you!”

He exhaled heavily. “Oh, um, good…”

“It’s never you,” April assured him.

“Then what is it?” Andy sat on an unused table, pulling April along with him.

April took his hands off her shoulders so she could hold them in hers. She shuffled her feet and stepped into the space between his open legs so she could be closer. Andy didn’t say anything else, simply waited for her to talk.

“Sometimes I get so sick of being the way I am,” April said softly, after a while. “Sometimes I hate that I don’t know what I want to do with my life, that I feel stuck in this stupid career, or that I’m holding you back.”

“Holding me back?” Andy shook his head. “Everything I have right now is because of you!”

“No, Andy,” April shook her head. “You did this on your own.”

“Johnny Karate wouldn’t exist without you,” Andy said firmly. “Not to mention a million other things.”

How could she think that? Without April, Andy would probably still be living in that damn pit. Or at the very least he’d living in a tent on the streets.

“Lately I just feel like I’ve got too many things wrong with me, and making you stop to fix all my problems and flaws isn’t fair to you.”

“April,” Andy said, cupping her cheeks, “we’ve all got problems we don’t know how to deal with sometimes, and we’ve all got flaws. It’s okay to ask for help.”

For a moment, April stared at him with that slight smile on her face that she got whenever he said something that was probably too smart for his own good.

“Yeah,” she said. “But your flaws and mine are so…unbalanced.”

“How?”

“Well, for starters, I don’t see anyone else skipping out on a meeting because they get anxious or worried that they’re going to make a fool of themselves.”

“Honey,” Andy moved his hands from her cheeks to her shoulders. “There’s no way you were gonna make a fool of yourself. I think that’s pretty damn impossible. Now myself, on the other hand…well, there’s a reason Leslie schedules all those National Parks meetings on days where I’m not working.”

“Andy,” April rolled her eyes. “That’s not true.”

Andy shrugged. “Maybe, maybe not, but the point is, you don’t have any flaws. Not to me, at least,” he said.

April’s smile was back, if only a little bit. “Thanks.”

“And even if you don’t believe me,” Andy went on, “I want you to know that I’m always gonna be here for you, okay?”

April bit her lip. She stared up at him with those large brown eyes he loved to get lost in. They were soft, reflecting the light off the dull, ceiling bulbs above. She nodded.

They both moved at the same time, leaning in to the other’s kiss. April opened up for him, the kiss deepening until they’re both groaning softly into the other’s mouth, and Andy’s fingers find their way into April’s hair.

A knock on the door startled the both of them, and they pulled apart with a soft sound. The same intern from before was standing there with a clip board, looking uncomfortable.

“Um, Andy,” he said. “Lunch is over and they’re looking for you.”

“Oh,” Andy said, gripping April’s hand. “I’ll be there in a second.”

“Okay,” the intern said, disappearing around the corner. And turned back to April, who kissed him once more, quickly this time.  
“Go,” she said, smiling. “I’ll be fine.”

“April—“

“Really,” she said, pulling herself away. “I promise. You helped me so much, babe.”

“But I didn’t do anything?”

“Yeah,” April brushed his cheeks with her palms. “You did.”

 

Later that night they held each other. Exhausted from the day, from the night, from loving each other. April rested her head on Andy’s chest, her hair a black tangled mess along the pillow as she listened to Andy breathe with a smile on her face.

Andy ran his hand up and down her arm, the tip of his finger brushing against her as he pressed kiss after kiss to her forehead. Neither of them bothered to get redressed.

There were always going to be moments like these, Andy decided. April seemed to think that these days bothered him, but she couldn’t be more wrong. She couldn’t possibly understand how much Andy adored being there for her, how much he cherished her faith in him as both a husband and a best friend, a confidante and a caretaker. He would be all those things and more for her for the rest of his days. He would never bat an eye about it, either, because Andy would always take care of her.

He was going to be there for her no matter what, forever. As far as he was concerned, April Ludgate had no flaws.


End file.
